Anthony Gill summed it up well...
“They can say it was ugly. We had fun out there just imposing our will” – Anthony Gill
It took me some time to get used to that kind of attitude — in the wake of the ugly Dave Leitao era (I once broke a pair of sunglasses after we scored three baskets in a half against FSU), my heart was ready for some freewheeling, up-and-down basketball — but now, that same heart beats a little faster and my pants get a little tighter when we render some other team completely hapless. I stand up and clap — at home, even! — for shot clock violations. Bennett Ball rules. This must what being a fan of the 2000 Ravens must have been like (except no one on our team has purportedly killed anyone).
The good stuff:
- Rutgers’s 26 points were the fewest points a Virginia team has surrendered in the shot clock era.
- The Scarlet Knights scored eight points and did not attempt a free throw in the second half.
- Rutgers’s offensive efficiency was 48.0, their EFG% was 25%, and they made two baskets in the last 17:32 of the game.
- The ‘Hoos grabbed 81.1% of defensive rebounds (even more important when there are SO MANY defensive rebounds to be had) and frustrated Rutgers into a 22.1% turnover rate.
- Our football team scored more than 26 points five times this season.
Aside from a brief first half stretch where no one would help and Rutgers made four of seven shots to draw within 13-11, the defense was superb. Rutgers fired long twos and contested shots around the lane, threw fruitless passes, and looked like Virginia’s football team trying to score on a Bud Foster defense (too soon?).
The offense… well… the offense really misses having Joe Harris constantly moving, cutting, and coming off screens. The best way to describe it so far this season is that it’s stuck in the mud. We shot 32.7% from the field, made two of 16 threes, and often seemed content to just clank jumpers off the iron instead of continuing to move the ball for a good look. Everyone’s jumpers were flat, which is either symptomatic of this being the second game of a back-to-back (something college players are never in shape for), a larger problem (Malcolm, who is 4-19 on threes this season and has reverted to the flat jumper of his freshman season), or rust (London, who is 5-21 from the floor and is recovering from missed practices and scrimmages to start the year). I’m sort of glad my Dad went to bed during the first half of this game, because I’ve been lauding Marial Shayok to him and Shayok was bad, firing long twos with aplomb and acting like he thought he was Malcolm Brogdon while the actual Malcolm Brogdon was still on the court. I think he’ll be good, but the game is — to coin a phrase of CTB’s — sped up for him right now.
Justin Anderson salvaged the first half by freelancing his way to eight points (a couple of transition dunks and a long two off the dribble that CTB hated), and Anthony Gill led the way with 11 of his 13 in the second half. Gill is a great asset to this team, because he’s almost always able to generate offense when we remember him, he can do it in a variety of ways, and he’s efficient — even more so than before now that he’s an able free throw shooter. I’ve said it before, but I think he could end up leading this team in scoring.
Notes:
- We had seven turnovers, which is good, but five of them came from Malcolm which is both bad (he was frustrated with his jumper and getting himself into no man’s land in the lane) and good (he won’t commit five turnovers every night).
- Remember how I’ve lauded Justin for keeping his rogue body parts (elbow, legs) in line on his jump shot this year, and how that’s the big reason for his hot start? That kind of fell apart in New York: he’s back to floating to the side and kicking his left leg forward on his release.
- Devon Hall must be a worse defender than I think he is (so far, he’s a garden variety rookie) or a worse practice player than Allen Iverson, because a guy with the willingness to get into the lane to create for himself or others seems like it would really help.
- Evan Nolte is late-career Mark McGwire at this point. There are going to be a lot of ugly strikeouts and his batting average is as low as it goes, but at some point he’ll hit three home runs and remind you why you like him. I hope it’s soon, because my patience is flagging.
- This had the makings of a big Tobey game — and he was aggressive, taking six shots in 22 minutes — but struggled to finish (he made just one) and scored just two points.
Hoops Hate Week (at least for me, I’ve got no love for either Maryland or VCU) starts now.
